Today I am so dog-gone excited to welcome Annie Knox to Escape With Dollycas!!

Getting Away by Annie Knox

I have a hard time getting away from it all. I work full time as a college instructor which (a) takes a lot of time and energy and (b) comes with an e-mail account to which hundreds of students have 24-hour access. Don’t get me wrong. I love my job, and I know how lucky I am to have it. Sometimes I gripe about my young charges, but I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without classes and advisees.

Still, a girl can’t live on labor alone. Sometimes you just have to escape, even if it’s just for a few moments of Calgon-induced bliss. And here’s where I get really, really lucky. I get paid to escape into a book. I can slip behind a keyboard and sink right into the world of Merryville, Minnesota, my perfect vacation spot.

The Pet Boutique Mysteries were originally supposed to be set in Wisconsin – a beautiful state! But a little voice in my head kept pushing me to pick up the story’s stakes and move it to Minnesota, a state I used to call home. Finally, I gave in, and Merryville started to spring to life. The small town shops and tourist magnets began to flourish. The mix of hit dishes and farm-to-table haute cuisine, the time-honored Minnesota staples of potica and meatballs mingled with unexpected splashes of Korean barbeque, found their ways into the restaurants that lined the oak-lined streets. The drinking, the deer stands, the fishing tours, and the endless festivals filled the days in Merryville as surely as they had my old “home town.”

More importantly, though, I was able to populate Merryville with people I love (and love to hate). Izzy McHale may—just may—be a little bit like me: she’s well-meaning but not always great at follow-through, she gets a little overwhelmed sometimes, and she second-guesses herself more than she probably should. But I’ve given her the most amazing support system: a pair of grounded, old-fashioned parents and a rock-steady older sister; a wack-a-doo aunt and wicked little sister who keep things interesting; a best friend who has her back no matter what trouble comes her way; and a couple of find fella’s who may or may not be making the moves on her.

Who wouldn’t want to escape to that life now and again? Oh, sure, there are murders to solve and a business to run and the day-to-day frustrations we all face, but Izzy and Merryville are the perfect break from my own day to day … and, to think, they’re just a keystroke away!

*****

Annie Knox writes the Pet Boutique Mysteries – Paws For Murder and the just-released Groomed For Murder. A vagabond at heart, she’s finally put down roots in North Texas with her husband and three spoiled felines. She loves to hear from readers at annieknoxauthor@gmail.com.

Groomed For Murder:
A Pet Boutique Mystery 2nd in Series Cozy Mystery An Obsidian Mystery (September 2, 2014) An Imprint of New American Library Published by The Penguin Group Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages ISBN-13: 978-0451241122 E-Book File Size: 1939 KB ASIN: B00IOE3NJ4

Izzy McHale wants her new Trendy Tails Pet Boutique in Merryville, Minnesota, to be the height of canine couture and feline fashions. But in a week of wedding bells, someone is about to hold their peace… forever.

Love is in the air, and Izzy is hard at work coordinating two special weddings at Trendy Tails. First, Izzy’s friend and mentor, Ingrid, will be tying the knot with her old flame. And a week later, Izzy will host “pupptials” for two lovable dogs.

But even with the hullabaloo, the Trendy Tails crew is intrigued by Daniel, an enigmatic writer boarding above the shop who’s caught the attention of Izzy’s zany aunt Dolly, who gossips like most people breathe.

Unfortunately, it’s Daniel who stops breathing when he drops dead at the altar on Ingrid’s wedding day. Then Dolly is found at the scene with the murder weapon, and it’s up to Izzy, her Trendy Tails pals, and her scrappy pets, Packer and Jinx, to find a killer before the two affianced doggies bark down the aisle….

Dollycas’s Thoughts

I reviewed the first book in this series, Paws For Murder, last week and like I told you then us Dolly’s have to stick together. So you can bet I was hanging on every word of this story.

I have fallen hard for Aunt Dolly, Izzy, Rena, Packer, Jinx, Val and all the rest of the human and animal characters too. I am amazed at how quickly I have become invested in the residents of Merryville, Minnesota. I like that some of them are from or have spent time in my home state of Wisconsin. Knox has created wonderful characters for us to love or love to hate. All the dialogue sounds like home and I can easily picture the settings because we have visited Minnesota several times. I am intrigued by the men in Izzy’s life as well, romance may be on the horizon for her and I don’t know which man I would choose for her yet.

Annie Knox writes a fun and entertaining mystery with plenty of misdirection to keep us readers on our toes. You have to keep your eyes on both the two-legged and four-legged creatures in this story and that just added to my enjoyment.

The author includes great descriptions of the pet apparel for sale at Trendy Tails if you are inclined to dress you pets up everyday or for special occasions, these will give you all kinds of ideas.

This book was a pure pleasure to read. I had a smile on my face from beginning to end. Collared For Murder will be out next summer and I am so ready for my next visit to Merryville.

Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Thank you to my wonderful sponsors!!

Tina Kashian

As summer comes to an end in her Jersey Shore town, Lucy Berberian continues to manage her family’s Mediterranean restaurant. The Kebab Kitchen also has a food tent at this year’s beach festival. But now a local businessman is under the boardwalk—dead by the sea …

With a sand castle contest and live music, Ocean Crest bids a bittersweet farewell to tourist season. Summer will return next year … but Archie Kincaid won’t. The full-of-himself store owner has been fatally shot, soon after a screaming match with Lucy’s best friend. Katie’s far from the only suspect, though, since Archie had some bitter rivals—as well as some relationships no one knew about. It’s up to Lucy to look into some seedy characters and solve the case before the wrong person gets skewered …

Nancy G. West

NEW SERIES! SPINOFF from the Aggie Mundeen Mysteries!

When Aggie Mundeen accompanies San Antonio Detective Sam Vanderhoven on a weekend getaway to Lake Placid, she thinks it’s going to be fun in the sun. What could be better than caretaking a friend’s cottage on the Guadalupe River in Central Texas? Never mind that Sam intends to discretely investigate the theft of that friend’s boat...

Unfortunately, the weather has plans of its own. Buckets of rain and gusting winds roil the lake, turning the peaceful Guadalupe into an angry, raging river. As darkness descends, lightning reveals two people arguing on a dock across the river. When lightning flashes again, they are gone. Did Aggie and Sam witness an accident? A drowning? A murder?

The Plunge sweeps readers along with the threat of looming disaster, helpless before an untamable force, where sleuthing takes a back seat to survival...

Advice columnist Aggie Mundeen and SAPD Detective Sam Vanderhoven plan their first rendezvous at a San Antonio River Walk hotel during Fiesta Week—sumptuous sights, sounds, and festivities in the middle of America’s Venice. A vacation from crime and a reset for their tumultuous relationship. But murder descends on the Casa Prima Hotel. Disturbing revelations surface about the Fabulous Femmes, Aggie’s new friends holding a convention. Evil emerges at parties in La Villita. Calamity plagues Aggie’s debut dance performance at the Arneson River Theater, the celebration skewed by carousing, crazies, and corpses. Even in idyllic River City, crime complicates relationships.

Valentine's Day is coming up and Lacy is single. If that's not bad enough, she has a secret admirer. Is it the compassionate, haunted detective, the ruggedly handsome businessman, the suave maître de, the guy in her running group who likes to stare, or maybe someone who's not on her radar? She'll find out soon enough because he's invited her to dinner. Now the question isn't how long Lacy will remain single but how long she'll remain alive.

During the Sweetheart Run through the town of Cedar Mill, a fellow runner is murdered and a notorious burglar called the Black Cat is found dead with an arrow sticking out of him. Somehow these strange murders are connected to the ladies of Run For It - Lacy the divorcee, Stax the quirky bookseller, and Ruby the old-time mystery novelist. They're back in a race against time to catch an invisible killer and exonerate an innocent man!

Barbara Barrett

When Sydney Bonner overhears a fellow mah jongg player arguing on the phone with her husband, she realizes the couple’s “perfect marriage” isn’t all it appears to be. A few days later, the husband is found dead, his head bashed in. Fearing she’ll be considered the most likely suspect, the widow prevails upon Sydney and her three friends—Marianne, Kat, and Micki—to find out who really killed him.

Though none of these four fun-loving, take-charge retirees has any training as detectives, the women agree to launch a secret investigation. As they dig under the happy veneer of their community’s social life, they find more than enough suspects, from shady ladies to resentful golf buddies, to keep them looking over their shoulders.

Could the murderer be lurking among the talent in a chaotic production put on by Sydney’s husband, who will do anything to keep busy in retirement? Could the sheriff, who may have more than a professional interest in chanteuse Kat, end up pinning the crime on the women instead? Each discovery during their investigations and their weekly mah jongg game keeps them running as they close in on the killer—but the killer may also be closing in on them.

Essential oils distributor Dorcas Wiley is the boss everyone loves to hate. So when she turns up dead, killed by her own trophy, disgruntled saleswoman Cathy Broderick is the obvious suspect in her murder. Despite opportunity, motive and incriminating evidence, Cathy declares her innocence and enlists her mah jongg pals—Sydney Bonner and her cronies Marianne, Micki, and Kat—to help save her from the death penalty.

Hot off a recent and nearly deadly investigation, the women are cautious about putting themselves in peril again. Syd’s spouse isn’t thrilled about another mystery in their lives, either, but he can’t resist the plea of Cathy’s husband. Soon, Syd is leading the way as they tangle with grumpy salespeople, the victim’s estranged husband and boyfriend, a mysterious housekeeper, a litigious customer, an annoyed sheriff, and Cathy’s own arrogant lawyer.

The women have their own issues to deal with in their central Florida town of Serendipity Springs. Kat faces a health challenge, Micki fields a mysterious inquiry from her ex, Marianne has a chaotic anniversary and Syd wrestles with her husband over who’s really in charge. But nothing puts everyday life into perspective like the moment when their investigation brings them face to face with danger.

How could a thirty-something man fall to his death from a fourth-floor balcony he knows is defective? That’s the question freelance writer Micki Demetrius is asked to answer by the man's grieving mother, Clarissa White, who refuses to believe his death was an unfortunate accident. But when the authorities determine it was homicide, Micki is shut out of her investigative efforts.

Giving up is easier said than done for Micki. She can’t resist a mystery, and suspicious characters won’t leave Clarissa alone, from the woman claiming a stake in the victim’s life to a cagey character who wants his business. As the threat to Clarissa grows, Micki feels compelled to help her in spite of the danger.

Micki’s three mah jongg pals—Sydney Bonner, Marianne Putnam and Katrina, Kat, Faulkner—are drawn into the mystery, but the retirees have their own challenges. Syd and husband Trip do grandparent duty while their daughter deals with marital issues. Marianne “finds herself” by writing a one-act play. And Kat must decide how public to go with her growing friendship with the sheriff. Together, they must connect the dots in a nefarious web of greed, neglect, secrecy, and murder.

Frances Metzman

Would you move a dead body for the sake of your best friend? Ask cha-cha babe Celia Ewing, a sixty-five-year-old widow who has just settled into Boca Pelicano Palms, the Florida retirement community of her dreams. When Celia’s best friend Marcy calls her and their friend Deb for help in the middle of the night, they find a naked Marcy trapped under the body of her beau, the community’s board president, Melvin. And he’s dead. The three friends secretly move Melvin back to his apartment setting off a chain of events that will threaten to tear their community apart and send them to jail. Melvin is one of a number of residents who are dying under suspicious circumstances, and soon Celia becomes an amateur sleuth in an attempt to identify what she suspects is a serial murderer.

Filled with humorous, witty observations about retirement communities, the realities of getting older, and the promise of new love, the Cha-Cha Babes of Pelican Way celebrates the deep bonds of female friendships, the desire for companionship at any age, and shows us that it’s never too late to learn how to cha-cha through life.

V.M. Burns

A 2019 Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book Best Read

Mystery bookstore owner Samantha Washington is trying to keep her grandmother from spending her golden years in an orange jumpsuit . . .

The small town of North Harbor, Michigan, is just not big enough for the two of them: flamboyant phony Maria Romanov and feisty Nana Jo. The insufferable Maria claims she's descended from Russian royalty and even had a fling with King Edward VIII back in the day. She’s not just a lousy liar, she's a bad actress, so when she nabs the lead in the Shady Acres Senior Follies—a part Nana Jo plays every year in their retirement village production—Nana Jo blows a gasket and reads her the riot act in front of everyone.

Of course, when Maria is silenced with a bullet to the head, Nana Jo lands the leading role on the suspects list. Sam’s been writing her newest mystery, set in England between the wars, with her intrepid heroine Lady Daphne drawn into murder and scandal in the household of Winston Churchill. But now she has to prove that Nana Jo’s been framed. With help from her grandmother's posse of rambunctious retirees, Sam shines a spotlight on Maria’s secrets, hoping to draw the real killer out of the shadows . . .

Coming April 30from V.M. Burns

Lilly Echosby and her toy poodle Aggie find a fresh start in Chattanooga, Tennessee, spoiled by the scent of murder . . .

Having solved the shooting death of her cheating husband, Lilly's left behind the drama of Lighthouse Dunes, Indiana, to start over in the hometown of her best friend, Scarlett "Dixie" Jefferson. As she gets settled in her new rented house, Lilly gives Aggie, short for Agatha Christie, her own fresh start by enrolling her in the Eastern Tennessee Dog Club, where Dixie is a trainer.

But drama seems to hound Lilly like a persistent stray. Her cranky new neighbor appears unfamiliar with Southern hospitality and complains that Aggie barks too much and digs up his prized tulips. But what the poodle actually unearths is the buried body of a mysterious man who claimed ownership of the lost golden retriever Lilly recently rescued. Now it's up to Lilly and Dixie to try to muzzle another murderer . . .

Book 1 in the Series

Click on covers for more book info or to order from Amazon.

5/15/2019

Kate Parker

Coming March 22, 2019

Olivia Denis discovers her father kneeling over the body of a man…a man who supposedly drowned in the Channel years before. Olivia wants to ring for help, her father wants to hide the body, but a mysterious phone call brings Scotland Yard to the murder scene.

Olivia can’t stand by and let her maddening, disapproving father hang. To prove his innocence – and learn his secrets - she must work with a master spy. The search for clues takes Olivia to the continent and the Kent countryside, Hastings and London, pushing her deeper into the world of danger and deception.

As war between Germany and Britain stalks closer, the hunt for a Nazi collaborator intensifies. With a mounting death toll, Olivia knows she must unmask the killer or be the next to die.

Coming March 15, 2019

Stephen Kaminski

To his mind, Cam Reddick has failed—as a husband, as a father, and as a professional. After recognizing that his vanilla credentials didn’t stack up in a big city brimming with overachievers and toiling in drudgery for half of a decade, an emotionally raw Cam returns to his childhood hometown—the quaint and quirky village of Rusted Bonnet, Michigan. He’s determined to resuscitate relationships marred by youthful immaturity, most importantly those with his ex-wife Kacey Gingerfield (who doubles as the village’s Deputy Chief of Police) and their first grader, Emma. Armed with striking looks and an endearing proclivity for mixing metaphors, but saddled by “momma’s boy” tendencies, Cam takes the helm of his mother’s housekeeping business—Peachy Kleen. Access to homes across the village facilitates Cam’s penchant for amateur sleuthing as Kacey’s aide-de-camp. Surrounded by Kacey, his sophisticated mother Darby, garrulous senior housekeeper Samantha, and recuse fish cum confidant Bait, Cam’s circuitous journeys to solving murders and unravelling complex cons hasten his struggle down the path of self-healing to self-respect. And there’s hope that—just maybe—he can rekindle the romance he once had with Kacey.

In An Au Pair to Remember, Cam’s plan for a quiet return to Rusted Bonnet is dashed when a beautiful German au pair, Greta Astor, is found dead in Dutch McRae’s foyer with all signs pointing to a hastily disassembled trip wire at the top of the stairs. When Kacey learns that Cam was cleaning the McRae home the previous afternoon, she confides to him that Chief Bernie Leftwich is set on arresting Dutch for the murder—either alone or in tandem with Greta’s bartender boyfriend. But she worries that Bernie’s been duped. And later, when his mother Darby becomes a suspect, Cam inserts himself into the investigation and stumbles through a series of ostensible incongruities—a thief swallowing a cache of stolen diamonds, a snack food distributor laundering money, and a Cash-for-Gold scam. Meanwhile, Peachy Kleen’s young African housekeeper has disappeared with one of the company vans. All the while, Cam finds himself flirting with his new neighbor and struggling with his complicated feelings for Kacey.

Maria Geraci

The first book in a fun, quirky chick-lit mystery series featuring Lucy McGuffin, world's best muffin maker, and amateur sleuth.

Everyone agrees that Lucy McGuffin bakes the best muffins in Whispering Bay, but she’s got another talent, one that she’s tried her whole life to hide. Lucy can always tell when a person is lying or telling the truth. Being a human lie detector isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when you don’t really want the answer to the universal question: Does this dress make my butt look too big?

When Lucy is hired to cater the grand opening celebration of the city’s new community center, she stumbles across the dead body of Abby Delgado, a prominent member of the Sunshine Ghost Society. Lucy’s brother, Father Sebastian, a local priest, is the last person to have seen Abby alive. Convinced he’ll be breaking a confidence, Sebastian refuses to cooperate with the police, forcing Lucy to put her skills to the test to save her brother’s good name.

Enter the town’s new hotshot deputy, Travis Fontaine. Travis doesn’t want an amateur like Lucy snooping around his turf, so he offers her a deal. He’ll stay out of her kitchen if she’ll stay away from his crime scene. But Lucy isn’t about to let her brother’s fate rest in the hands of an arrogant cop. Good thing she has her best friend Will and her new little rescue dog, Paco, to back her up, because it's up to Lucy to figure out what everyone in the quaint little beachside town is hiding.

Joey “The Weasel” Frizzone has been deep undercover with one of the country’s largest organized crime families and the time has come for him to testify against them. The trial isn’t for a couple of weeks, and the feds need him to lay low, so they hide him in a place no one would ever think to look—a sleepy little town in Florida called Whispering Bay.

Lucy McGuffin bakes the best muffins in town. She’s also a human lie detector, a talent that hasn’t always been easy to live with, because, c’mon, how many times can a girl hear “It’s me, not you” and keep a straight face?

Lucy’s ability to sniff out a lie has given her a reputation for solving crime, so when an attempt is made on Joey’s life, local police officer Travis Fontaine reluctantly seeks Lucy’s help. But Lucy and Travis have a wobbly relationship. The arrogant cop thinks he’s God’s gift to womankind, and Lucy isn’t about to become President of his fan club.

Someone in the FBI must have a big mouth because soon there are enough hitmen in town to make Whispering Bay look like a reunion site for The Sopranos. Then someone starts whacking the hitmen. As the body count begins to rise, Lucy realizes she has to step up to the plate. Travis needs Joey to stay alive long enough to testify, and Lucy wants her quaint little town back, minus the mobsters.

With the help of her best friend, Will, and her rescue dog, Paco, Lucy and Travis set out to discover who’s behind all the hits, because if they don’t, Whispering Bay may never be the same again. Ba-da-Bing. Ba-da-Boom.

Laura Childs – Tea Shop Mysteries

Theodosia Browning serves tea and solves crimes in Charleston, a city steeped in tradition and treachery in the latest Tea Shop Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs.

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon rally. The view aloft is not only stunning, they are also surrounded by a dozen other colorful hot-air balloons. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out.

As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them. An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers.

Sirens scream, first responders arrive, and Theodosia is interviewed by the police. During the interview, she learns that one of the downed occupants was Don Kingsley, the CEO of a local software company, SyncSoft. Not only do the police suspect Kingsley as the primary target, they learn that he possessed a rare Revolutionary War Union Jack flag that several people were rabidly bidding on.

Intrigued, Theodosia begins her own investigation. Was it the CEO's soon-to-be ex-wife, who is restoring an enormous mansion at no expense? The CEO's personal assistant, who also functioned as curator of his prized collection of Americana? Two rival antiques' dealers known for dirty dealing? Or was the killer the fiancée of one of Theodosia's dear friends, who turns out to be an employee—and whistle-blower—at SyncSoft?

Victoria Gilbert

Has a curse fallen on the small town of Taylorsford, Virginia? After a young woman goes missing during a spring bonfire, library director Amy Webber must wade through the web of lies only to find a truth that she may not want to untangle.

Spring has sprung in quaint Taylorsford, Virginia, and the mayor has revived the town’s long-defunct May Day celebration to boost tourism. As part of the festivities, library director Amy Webber is helping to organize a research project and presentation by a local folklore expert. All seems well at first—but spring takes on a sudden chill when a university student inexplicably vanishes during a bonfire.

The local police cast a wide net to find the missing woman, but in a shocking turn of events, Amy’s swoon-worthy neighbor Richard Muir becomes a person of interest in the case. Not only is Richard the woman’s dance instructor, he also doesn’t have an alibi for the night the student vanished—or at least not one he’ll divulge, even to Amy.

When the missing student is finally discovered lost in the mountains, with no memory of recent events—and a dead body lying nearby—an already disturbing mystery takes on a sinister new hue. Blessed with her innate curiosity and a librarian’s gift for research, Amy may be the only one who can learn the truth in Past Due for Murder, Victoria Gilbert’s third charming Blue Ridge Library mystery.

Anna Celeste Burke

New from Anna Celeste Burke

When Lily Callahan returns home to California's wine country, sparks fly amid a hail of bullets as she and U.S. Marshall Austin Jennings take cover.

Money, fame, and love all come into play as motives when Lily and Austin try to find out who sent hired guns to kill Lily. The trouble begins soon after her beloved Aunt Lettie dies and leaves her estate to Lily--is it about the money?

Or, is life imitating art? Lily's trouble-making character in a long-running TV soap was recently killed by a paid hitman. Is a crazed fan trying to end Lily's life as well as her acting career? Did her agent borrow a page from the script after Lily dismissed him?

Lily's surprised to find an old flame waiting for her when she returns home. Has he reached the point that if he can't have her, nobody can? If it's about an old love that's become dangerous, the new one that propels Lily and Austin into each other's arms won't help.

Life in small-town California wine country is a tangled vine of mystery, suspense, and intrigue.

Grab your copy of the first book in the Calla Lily Mystery Series by USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author, Anna Celeste Burke to find out what happens to Lily and Austin.

Miriam Webster’s a woman with a few secrets—can she keep them after she and her spirited Dalmatian, Domino, find a body on Fitzgerald’s Bluff?

When Miriam Webster moves into the Seaview Cottages active adult community, the last thing she expects is to find a body on the bluffs nearby. The mystery takes a quick detour when Miriam and her friends return to Fitzgerald’s Bluff with the Deputy Sheriff. The dead woman’s gone, but not for long. Where the body turns up is only one of the surprising twists the mystery takes for Miriam and her friends.

Convinced that the local deputy isn’t up to the task of finding a killer on the loose, Miriam and her gang of Grand Old Lady Detectives [G.O.L.D.] set out to discover the truth about a body on Fitzgerald’s Bluff. Can they solve the mystery without becoming the killer’s next victim?

To find out, grab your copy of book 1 in this new cozy mystery series by USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Anna Celeste Burke. Recipes included.

Laura Childs – Terrie Moran – Scrapbook Mysteries

<An exploding Mardi Gras float has got to be the strangest murder weapon scrappy sleuth Carmela Bertrand has ever encountered in this latest Scrapbooking Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author.

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is excited to be attending the Pluvius Parade along with her best friend Ava. Carmela's ex-husband Shamus rides by the duo on his float at the head of the parade, when suddenly the revelry turns to disaster. Shamus' float crashes and explodes, and although Shamus escapes unhurt, a member of his krewe is killed.

Carmela and Ava plunge into an investigation of the krewe-member's death, but as they dig deeper it starts to look less like an accident and more like a murder....and Shamus seems less like a victim, and more like a suspect.

Laura Childs – Cackleberry Club Mysteries

The Christmas season at the Cackleberry Club café is marred by murder in the latest book in the New York Times bestselling series.

Some say that casting crusty attorney Allen Sharpe as Scrooge in the Kindred Players production of "A Christmas Carol" is just playing to type. He's not the most beloved man in town. In fact, you'd have a dickens of a time finding someone who liked him. Still, it's a shock when the Ghost of Christmas Past stabs him during the first rehearsal. Suzanne, co-owner of the Cackleberry Club café, Kindred's favorite combination diner, craft store and bookshop, chases the murderer out of the building but loses him in the alley.

As the days pass the list of suspects grows longer. Is it the disgruntled partner? The former secretary whom Sharpe sexually harrassed? Or is it fellow owner of the Cackleberry Club, Toni's almost ex-husband, Junior? The women of the Cackleberry Club are determined to find the killer before he can add another victim to his Christmas list.

Blogoversary

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend books, products, or services I use personally and/or believe my readers will appreciate. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”